


Afterwards

by MaivaGAM



Category: Scream (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2017-02-12
Packaged: 2018-08-27 16:30:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8408728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaivaGAM/pseuds/MaivaGAM
Summary: Pretend the Halloween special didn't happen.
Everyone's getting used to life after murders. People are falling into patterns. Not the same patterns as before though. That was kind of bound to happen though, considering...you know, death. Death changes things. Relationship dynamics change when half the people originally involved are dead. New possibilities, new feelings. That never goes wrong...Mainly this is conversations and scenes I feel like the Lakewood gang would have had, focusing on Audrey and Noah, because I love writing them and I think the idea of them getting together is really adorable.





	1. Hill of Happiness

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first thing I've ever posted, so please be at least a little nice.

They’d tried to find a place to be alone. After everything, there was no place without an audience, whether it was reporters or just people who knew who they were. They’d tried to leave town, but people in the next few towns over knew who they were too, so that ended up being out of the question entirely. Noah was scared of the woods, and the lake, which Audrey couldn’t really blame him for. So they were off limits. And most of the abandoned buildings held untold horrors, or bad memories. Needless to say, there weren’t many options. They’d found one spot though, a beautiful, well-lit field of flowers at the bottom of a hill out in the middle of nowhere. The two of them had taken to laying on the side of the hill and looking up at the sky. They rarely said anything. If they did, it was a rule that only good, happy things could be said. Or, at least, they couldn’t talk about death, or particularly sad things. Nostalgia, even regret, had seeped in at times, but never sadness or fear. That simply wasn’t allowed.  
And so they’d gone out there on that particular day because a girl named Gina had tried to worm her way in with Audrey. It’d become very obvious that she wasn’t interested in Audrey so much as the idea of dating the hero of Lakewood, and maybe even getting a nice little sum for her story when they broke up. It was, in Audrey’s own words, “fucked up and shitty beyond belief, seriously who does that kind of thing?” Noah was inclined to agree with her, but in less descriptive words. But he’d determined the best course of action was to get Audrey out of there, and take her somewhere to calm down. The field had seemed like the best place.  
That’s why they were there, lying side by side in the grass on the hill, staring up at the sky without actually saying anything about what that girl had done, how upset Audrey was, how awful things were in general, how both of them were wondering if they could ever have a normal relationship with someone ever again. Audrey buried her head in Noah’s shoulder for a minute, before turning back to the sky.  
“I want to leave this town as soon as I can. As soon as school ends for the summer I want to leave and never come back. I want to go somewhere else and start a new life, leaving everything people think they know, the girl everyone thinks I am here.”  
“You’d have to come back. Senior year is kind of important.”  
“No, I wouldn’t. I could find a job, get some work, maybe finish school online and figure out a way to get into film school. I could manage for myself.”  
There was a long pause. They both knew what the other was thinking.  
“It’d be a lot easier if you came with me.” She shifted, pulling herself up onto her elbow so that she could see Noah’s face, which looked pensive.  
“I want to finish school. I wouldn’t mind transferring, but it would be easier to finish it here. It’s only a year more. And I’ve been working with Stavo on our book. I want to continue with that. And I can’t do that if I’m not here.”  
“Then let’s bring Brooke and Stavo with us. Brooke wants to go to New York anyway, I’d be cool with that, or at least somewhere near there. Maybe you and I could go to Boston, that’d be cool. There’s a ton of colleges there too, some of the best schools in the country.”  
“And your mother?” Noah added knowingly.  
Audrey sighed. “Maybe that’s part of it, but that honestly wasn’t what I was thinking. Just…think about it. We could live our lives there, visit New York on the weekends, and no one would know who we are, no one would care like they do here. We could just be us.”  
Noah grinned. “Boston would be awesome. Seriously. But I want to stay here for senior year. The minute we graduate, I’ll go with you to Boston.”  
Audrey sighed. “Why do you have to be the voice of reason?”  
Noah laughed. “Because no one else in our friend group is willing to think like a normal human being.”  
“Fair enough.” She sighed again. “I still want to leave town this summer. Road trip or something. I don’t know, I don’t care, I just want to get out.”  
“I’m cool with that,” Noah said, “as long as it’s not too expensive.”  
“We can split costs, share beds, sleep in the car if we have to.”  
Noah reached over Audrey and grabbed her hand, pulling it over, wrapping Audrey around him. He nodded as Audrey settled her head on his chest and let her hand rest on his shoulder. “Yeah, I think this could work. Nice and comfy.”  
He knew he’d probably just crossed a line, but the line he’d crossed was blurry and messy and one they never spoke about. Audrey hadn’t complained though, so he figured she must have been willing to let that one slide. He couldn’t understand with her sometimes. Each day the line got blurrier, and she’d cross the line more often than he would some days.  
In her defense, Audrey didn’t understand it either. She tried not to think about it. It made her head spin in an uncomfortable way. Just being around Noah did the trick sometimes. Everything got warm and fuzzy. He just felt safe. He was home for her, at this point. But she couldn’t let him too close. He was already too close. It was a difficult balance for her.  
Then Noah said something neither of them was expecting. “What about Emma?” The comment was filled with a surprising amount of malice. Both of them cringed.  
“What about Emma?” Audrey said roughly, rolling off of Noah.  
“I didn’t mean…I just meant, is she coming with us on this excursion? Is she coming to Boston with us? Are you going to offer or…?” He trailed off, but the question was there. Audrey was glad he hadn’t voiced it.  
“Emma and I are…complicated right now. She might be one of the things I want to get away from. She might not…I don’t know. She’s just…a reminder of every bad point in my life, every mistake I’ve ever made, all of the pain I’ve been through. And she expects me to support her through everything, every little thing! I love that girl to death, but sometimes I can’t deal with her!”  
Audrey took a deep breath and fell harshly back into the grass. “Let’s not think about Emma right now.”  
Noah just nodded, taking her hand in his. Then, without allowing himself any time to overthink, he rolled over and pecked her quickly on the lips, not letting the kiss linger, or waiting for a response.  
“Noah…” There was a nervousness in her voice.  
“Call it an act of sympathy. To cheer you up. Or at least distract you.” He started to pull his hand out of her limp one, knowing his excuse was lame, and sure he’d crossed way too far over the line, but she held onto his hand gently.  
He opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it.  
He couldn’t tell if Audrey was smiling or not, whether everything was ok or if he’d just made a fool of himself yet again.  
Finally, he said, “I’m just afraid you’ll leave without me, go off and leave me behind. Maybe you’d be happy without me, off somewhere else.”  
“Hey, come on, no sadness on our little hill of happiness,” she teased. “I could never be happier without you. You’re kind of the only thing keeping me from losing my goddamn mind right now. I don’t think I could survive without you, let alone be happy.”  
They fell into a happy little silence.  
After a while, the sound of a car pulling up the road broke their little bubble. Audrey’s head flew up, instincts kicking in. She let out a huge sigh and fell back into the grass when she saw whose car it was. “Looks like the gang’s all here. Emma just pulled up, and I think I saw Brooke and Stavo in the back.”  
Noah laughed. “And so our Fortress of Solitude is destroyed.”  
“We really shouldn’t have told them about this place,” Audrey muttered as a car door slammed from down the road.  
Emma glanced up the hill. “Yeah, they’re here alright. Let’s go pick them up and grab some food. I want to make sure Audrey’s ok after everything that happened today.”  
Brooke followed Emma’s gaze, and grinning at how close the two on the hill were. “I think she’s fine. You know, maybe we shouldn’t go break up their little moment.” By the time she looked back at Emma, she was already halfway to the hill. “Too late then.”  
Stavo came up behind her and wrapped his arm around her waist. “What’re you thinking babe?”  
“I’m not sure yet, but don’t you think Audrey and Noah have been…extra touchy feely recently? I sense a romance of some sort, or maybe just some unrequited love.”  
“Playing matchmaker again?” Stavo said with a chuckle.  
“Hey, I’m good at it!”  
“That you are. Noah and Zoe would have been very happy if Zoe hadn’t ended up dead.”  
Brooke pulled away from him and headed after Emma. “Sometimes you are just too morbid, you know that?”  
Stavo just shrugged and followed her.


	2. Movies and Pizza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Movies and pizza and Noah's mom being a sweetheart because why not

After getting food they’d ended up in Noah’s basement. It was his dad’s old man cave. His mother had never gotten around to getting rid of it once he was gone. It worked out well for the group though. The place was full of comfy sofas and chairs, and there was a giant TV, so they could watch endless movies and Netflix, which seemed to be all they ever did anymore. It was also one of the only places that felt safe anymore.   
They’d settled into a kind of pattern when they were down there. Brooke and Stavo would lay across the biggest couch, Brooke curled up on Stavo’s chest. Emma, Audrey and Noah would sit on the carpeted floor right below them, despite having their choice of comfy recliners, making it easy for Brooke to ruffle Audrey or Noah’s hair, or grab Emma’s hand. The order on the floor was always the same. Audrey would sit between Noah and Emma, and she would swap her head between their shoulders as they both wrapped around her. This kind of closeness had become a normality for them. Maybe it was just another layer of safety, but it was nice to have a physical reminder that everything was okay now, that everyone was still there.  
It was probably the safety of it all, Audrey decided, that was causing the lazy, dazed feeling that was currently holding her mind captive. Everything happening was dimmed, slowed, and hazed over in a thin coat of warmth, that kind of warmth that causes people to drift off into sleep without noticing.  
She was curled up under one of the many blankets with Noah, her head on his shoulder. At some point during the movie he’d slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her towards him, nearly pulling her onto his lap. She hadn’t really minded. He was warm, and comfortable, and oh so safe. Emma had reached out and taken her hand around then, but was quickly distracted by Brooke. She wasn’t sure when or how she’d ended up fully wrapped up in Noah, but then again, she couldn’t even say how long the movie had been playing, or if it was the same one. It was all the fuzziness. She liked it too much. In that haze, she’d stopped thinking about what she was doing. That’s why she’d ended up with her arms around Noah’s waist, her legs tangled with his under the blanket, the movie sounds, even her other friends a distant distraction, long forgotten as she buried her face deeper into Noah’s neck. She could have fallen asleep right then and there.  
Noah’s fingers brushing her face was a real, tangible distraction though, and she looked up to find his face inches away from hers, so close that his face was blurring out of focus.  
She wasn’t thinking. If she had been, then she would have moved.  
He wasn’t thinking either, or he would never have done anything.  
Emma said something.  
Audrey thought she heard her name.  
She turned towards Emma, who was indeed talking to her. Brooke looked annoyed.  
Everything came back into glaring focus.  
The basement suddenly felt a lot colder.  
After a few minutes of conversation with Emma, Audrey excused herself and headed upstairs to the bathroom. Stavo kicked Noah as soon as Audrey was out of earshot. “Not exactly subtle, but a nice try anyway.”  
Noah blinked. “What are you talking about?”  
“You were hitting on Audrey. You tried to kiss her. Honestly, it was pretty smooth dude, except that, well, rule number two of flirting was broken before you started.”  
“Rule number two?”  
“If you’re going for a kiss, make sure there’s no one around, or that everyone around you is too drunk to care.”  
“I wasn’t even trying to kiss her,” Noah said nervously.  
Brooke laughed. “Sure you weren’t. And I’m not the prettiest girl in Lakewood.”  
“Technically that’s a debatable point-”  
“Don’t sass me nerd boy,” Brooke quipped sternly, but she was smiling.  
“Right.”  
There was a paused before, “If that’s rule number two, what’s rule number one?”  
Stavo shrugged. “If they say no, go home.”  
The whole room fell silent. Brooke glanced over at Emma, who was staring off into space, a frown slowly spreading across her face. Brooke sighed quietly and struck up a conversation on a completely different topic, and the group slipped into comfortable conversation.  
A minute later, Noah’s mom was calling them up, saying the pizza they’d ordered (despite the fact that they’d already eaten) was here. The four of them pulled themselves up off the floor, in slow, drowsy movements, and headed up the stairs.  
When they reached the kitchen, the pizza was laying on the table, and Noah’s mom was fussing over Audrey.  
“Your father’s out of town again?! I swear, that man is never here for more a few weeks. Well, you can stay here while he’s gone. Not like you were going back home tonight anyway, not when the pizza’s here.”  
Audrey laughed. “Thanks anyways Leslie. It’s nice to know I’m welcome here like always.”  
“Oh honey, I would adopt you if Howard would let me. You’re already basically my daughter. You might as well live here too, although I guess you kind of do. I feed you, put a roof over your head, give you a bed to sleep in, make sure you and Noah study, and I even do your laundry most weeks. And god knows I’d rather have you here than anywhere else, especially when your father’s gone. I don’t know what I’m going to do when you kids go off to college.”  
“You’ll probably be happy to get rid of us,” Audrey said with a grin, grabbing a piece of pizza from one of the boxes. “You’ll spend way less money on food.”  
“Oh, I’ll gladly be rid of you! You kids cause me so much trouble.” She stopped. “But seriously dear, you’re always welcome here, and I will miss you. It won’t be the same without you and Noah wandering around the house talking about your horror movies at random hours.” She seemed almost choked up, just at the thought.  
Audrey blushed a bit, and focused intently on her pizza while mumbling a quick, “Thanks.”  
Stavo grinned as Leslie bustled out of the room. “I think that’s the first time I’ve seen you blush, Jensen.”  
“How can I not? Noah’s mom is just too adorable. I can’t deal with her. She’s like the perfect mom.”  
Noah shrugged. “I wouldn’t say perfect…” Audrey turned and raised an eyebrow at him. “But she’s a pretty awesome mom, you know, as far as moms go.”  
“Thanks dear!” Leslie’s voice chirped from just down the hall. Noah sighed as everyone else burst into laughter.  
“She’s seriously got to stop eavesdropping on us…” he muttered to himself.  
Brooke shrugged. “I think we’d all kill to have a mother like yours Noah. Just be glad you didn’t get one of ours: absent, surrounded by murder, drunk off her ass and out of my life…you’ve got it pretty damn good Foster.”  
Emma giggled nervously. “When did this get to be a sympathy fest of sadness?” She grabbed another piece of pizza from the counter and turned to Audrey. “Have you seen Ms. Lang’s replacement yet?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a bit of a troll. It's for a good reason. And I can't seem to write Brooke properly these days. I think Stavo's getting easier though.  
> Also, this chapter may or may not be entirely autobiographical. Ah, high school. Noah's mom is named Leslie after my friend's mother, who seriously has pretty much the same conversation with me every time I leave for college. She's one of the sweetest, most amazing moms I have ever met, and so I felt it was appropriate that she should be the model for Noah's mom.  
> Just little tidbits from my life.


	3. Downward Spiral

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things aren't going quite as well as people hoped they would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a little rough, but I feel like an early chapter is a good idea right now. Consider this a small reprieve from the reality we've created for ourselves. I could say a lot more, but I won't. For the few people who read this: sit down, drink some hot chocolate, and forget about the world for a moment.

The pizza ran out fairly quickly. As Stavo grabbed the final slice, Audrey took the box, Noah following her into the hall. Audrey struggled for a moment, attempting to get the slightly too large box into the slightly too small trashcan. Finally managing to get enough of the box in to be satisfied, she turned quickly to find Noah directly in her way, leaning towards her.  
“Were we going to invite them on our possible little road trip, or…should we not?” he whispered quietly, glancing back in the direction of their friends.  
Audrey sighed, her shoulders falling from their previously tensed position. “Let’s…broach the subject. Make it a possibility. It’s still just an idea after all.”  
“I know you Audrey. You’re going. And I’m coming with you.”  
She blinked. “They don’t have to know that. Not yet anyway.”  
“Alright.”  
Emma ducked out into the hall. “What’re you guys talking about?”  
Audrey shrugged. “Nothing really.”  
Noah nodded along. “I was just thinking that we need a bigger trashcan.” He gestured at the pizza box sticking out of the garbage.  
Emma gave him her patented ‘what are you talking about’ look, but quickly turned her attention back to Audrey, grabbing her hand and pulling her back to the kitchen.  
Brooke had somehow found a bag of chips, and was leaning on the counter, pouring them lazily out into a bowl. Stavo was shaking his head.  
“You are like a tiny bottomless pit.”  
“Might as well use my metabolism while I’ve got it. And come on, tell me you’re not going to have any.”  
“Fair enough.”  
“What’ve you guys been up to while we were gone?” Audrey asked as she entered the room, grabbing a chip from the bowl.  
“Talking about how great it is that summer’s almost here,” Brooke sighed. “Lounging by pools, swimsuits for all, and all the more time to party, get drunk, and have fun. I can’t wait. I deserve it this summer.”  
“I think we all do,” Emma laughed.  
“Two more weeks, people, then we’re free,” Audrey added.  
“Anyone have big plans for the summer?” Noah asked quickly. “We kind of lost sight of that stuff during the, you know, horrific murders.”  
“How can one person have so little tact?” Audrey said with a grin.  
“Hey, you’re no better,” Noah said, teasing. Audrey just shrugged.  
Brooke shrugged along with Audrey. “Nothing much. My summer so far appears to consist of making sure my mom’s on the road to sobriety, and making sure I’m not.”  
Stavo grinned. “Sounds like a plan to me. You and me still going to work on that book we’ve been talking about?” He gaze shifted from Brooke to Noah.  
“Oh absolutely! I’ve actually had some ideas, and-”  
“Save it for later plot man,” Audrey cut in, “as much as we all support your little murder book endeavor, we do not need a full on geek session in the middle of our fun.”  
Noah threw her a glance of mock pain, and she rolled her eyes. They both broke out grinning. Brooke was grinning too.  
Emma sighed. “I honestly haven’t thought about the summer. I’ll probably spend it hiding from the press, maybe getting my job back, though I’m not sure I even want to go back to the Grind House, and hanging out with you guys. What about you Audrey?”  
Audrey shrugged. “I’ll probably end up doing as little as humanly possible. I might need to find a new job though.” She paused, and Noah took the opportunity to kick her gently in the shins. She glared at him for a fraction of a second before focusing back on the group. “You know what would be really fun? Getting out of this town, going somewhere far away. You know, road trip out to somewhere more interesting than Lakewood.”  
Brooke laughed. “Sounds like a dream! No Lakewood, no press, no responsibilities. I could go for that…” she sighed wistfully.  
Stavo nodded. “As long as I didn’t have to drive, sounds like it could be a good time.”  
Emma smiled lightly, but said nothing, seeing Audrey’s eyes on her.  
“It’s just an idea,” Audrey said, glancing down at the table.  
“We could definitely pull it off if we wanted!” Noah interjected, still all smiles. Audrey grinned at his insistence. Brooke and Stavo nodded in agreement.  
“Maggie would never let me,” Emma finally said.  
Everyone’s faces fell.  
“She needs me here, and she’d never let me go off somewhere without her permission.”  
“Not necessarily,” Stavo said after a moment.  
Brooke looked up at him. “What’re you thinking?”  
“We could tell Maggie that we’re going on a college trip. We could actually do that if people wanted, but I bet your mom would let you go if we were touring colleges.”  
“I don’t know if she’d go for that…” Emma said doubtfully.  
Stavo shrugged. “It was just an idea.”  
Noah glanced at Audrey, whose face was still staring steadily at the counter. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “How about we go back downstairs and start another movie?”  
Everyone nodded quickly.  
Brooke grabbed Emma and pulled her aside harshly as everyone else headed down the stairs. “Seriously, sometimes I wonder where your head is these days! You’ve lost all ability to read the mood! Are you trying to be a Debbie Downer?”  
Emma wouldn’t meet Brooke’s eyes. “What’re you talking about?”  
Brooke sighed. “It was obvious that Audrey really wanted to do that trip! You should know that better than anyone! You need to get your head fixed girl, because something’s knocked an emotion screw loose. And also, down in the basement, why the hell did you stop Noah?!”  
“Stop Noah from what?”  
Brooke’s eyes widened and her head shifted back a bit. “Oh no! Don’t pull that on me! You know exactly what was happening! Why did you get in the way?! What is going on in your brain right now?”  
Emma huffed and turned towards the stairs. “Nothing. Everything’s fine.”  
“Well, you’re right about one thing,” Brooke muttered, “nothing’s going on in your head.” She sighed again. “I’m going to need up my game to get this one to work out…since when did matchmaking become actual work?”  
The movie wasn’t that good. By about two thirds of the way through the movie they were all bored out of their mind. Emma was wrapped around Audrey, her head buried in Audrey’s shoulder. Her hands gripped Audrey’s, fingers tangling in and out. Brooke was watching them more than the movie, rolling her eyes, her hold on Stavo’s shirt tightening.  
Eventually, Noah groaned. “Okay, enough. This movie is the worst thing I’ve seen since Ouija or Blair Witch II.”  
“Yeah, it’s pretty bad,” Stavo laughed lightly.  
“Let’s just give up on this one…” Brooke said.  
Audrey sighed. “Thank god, I don’t think I could have taken much more of that. That movie could be used as a legitimate form of torture.”  
Noah glanced at the clock. “It’s getting late, maybe we should get to sleep.”  
Everyone nodded, and slid into autopilot. This was yet another one of their new routines. They’d all gotten used to sleeping at Noah’s. Brooke and Stavo would sleep in the basement, on the couch that they were already laying on, Emma would stay in the guest bedroom, and Audrey and Noah would stay in his room like always. As they were headed up the stairs though, Emma grabbed Audrey’s arm.  
“Hey, do you…maybe want to stay with me in the guest room? I…really want to talk to you about some things.”  
Audrey looked over at Noah. “Can we talk about whatever it is in the morning? I’d honestly rather sleep in Noah’s room like usual.”  
Emma tightened her grip on Audrey’s arm. “I…really don’t want to be alone tonight.”  
Audrey blinked. “Why?”  
Emma shook her head quietly. “I just don’t.”  
“I fit better in Noah’s bed than the guest bed with you. Trust me, it works better this way.”  
“But-”  
“I said I’m going to sleep in Noah’s room like usual Emma!”  
Emma flinched, and quickly backed off, turning on her heel towards the guest room.  
Noah turned to Audrey. “That was a bit harsh.”  
Audrey growled under her breath. “I’m just…so sick of talking with her. All she wants to talk about is how sad she is, how upset everything makes her, how glad she is that we got through it together! I don’t want to think about it anymore! And usually, neither does she! If anyone else asks her about the murders, she tells them to back the fuck off! But around me she turns into a walking memorial to everything I want to be done with! I don’t get it, and I can’t stand it anymore! I can’t baby her! I get that it hurt her, but it hurt me too, and I don’t go around acting like this! I know I haven’t handled it very well either, but seriously…” She took a deep breath. “I need a break from her BS, just for tonight.”  
Noah nodded. “I get it. Emma can be a handful.” He grinned. “You’ll get no complaints from me. I’m perfectly happy to have you in my room as always.”  
“You don’t want the whole bed all to yourself for once?” Audrey teased.  
“The bed would be so much colder without you, and my room’s a bit drafty right now.”  
“Glad to know I’m just a human heater to you.”  
“Hey, you are a top quality heater,” Noah said, resting his chin on her head, letting his arms fall over her shoulders. “Not everyone gets impressive banter with their warmth.”  
Audrey laughed. “You’re an idiot, Foster.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't noticed yet, I'm not the biggest Emma fan. The girl is bland as fuck to write, even when she's creating drama.


	4. Foot-in-Mouth Syndrome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Talking.

“Have you seen my sweatpants? I’m sure I left them here last time,” Audrey called over her shoulder, riffling through one of the drawers of Noah’s dresser.  
Noah glanced over, reclining back on the bed so he could actually see her without rolling over. “It’s not over there? All of your clothes should be in that drawer.”  
“I’m not blind. It’s not here.”  
“Oh, try the laundry basket in the corner,” Noah said quickly, pointing in the general direction of the closet. “I think my mom did your laundry again.”  
“I really need to thank her for that. Half of my clothes wouldn’t get washed if it weren’t for her.”  
“That’s because you always leave them here.”  
“Hey, I’m a generally clean human being who likes not wearing the same clothes as the day before. Be glad.”  
“I’ve very glad. However, someday I’d like to be able to wear that shirt myself,” he laughed, eyeing the shirt Audrey was hauling around as she dug through the laundry.  
“Found them!” Audrey said, triumphantly holding up a gray pair of sweatpants. “And you’re never getting it back. It’s mine now.” Noah glared at her, and she shrugged. “It’s comfy, and I can’t exactly sleep in the shirts I wear.”  
Noah sighed, but he was smiling. “Fair enough.”  
“Alright, now that I’ve got proper sleeping attire, I’m going to go shower.”  
“Your shampoo and stuff is in the usual place. I think…my mom has started using your conditioner though.”  
Audrey laughed. “Sure it’s your mom. It’s not like I can smell it whenever you use it or anything.”  
Noah groaned and rolled over, burying his face into a pillow. “Fine, you caught me. It makes my hair all silky though!”  
“I don’t mind, but you’re buying the next bottle. That shit is expensive.”  
“That’s fair, I suppose,” Noah sighed dramatically.  
Audrey snickered, grinning widely. “You’re such a drama queen tonight!”  
“So were you back there.”  
Audrey’s face fell. She lazily threw the clothes she was holding onto a chair and nudged Noah. “Scoot.” Noah rolled towards the wall, and Audrey flopped down next to him. “Emma…It’s starting to feel like I can’t be around her. That’s all.”  
Noah rolled over a bit and threw Audrey a disbelieving look. “That’s not all. You know it’s not.”  
Silence.  
Noah fell back, and let his eyes settle on the ceiling. For a moment he wished people were as easy to follow as the lines in the paint that he’d memorized years ago.  
His hand felt out hers. “No more secrets, remember?”  
More silence.  
Her hand tightened around his though.  
“We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” Silence. “I guess. You just don’t talk to me anymore.”  
“I talk to you more than anyone. What do you think the hill is for?”  
“The hill is for not talking.”  
Silence.  
Finally, “I don’t want to be Emma.”  
Noah’s eyes widened, and he fought the urge to turn and look at her. “What do you mean?”  
“Emma drives me crazy, simply by talking. She’s sad, and broken, and I can’t breathe because I’m expected to make her feel better. I need to make her feel whole, because she’s more broken than I am. And she is. Emma…has it way worse than I do. She’s damn strong, no one’s saying she’s not. It’s completely normal for her to not be okay. But I’m not exactly okay. None of us are. So I can’t always handle her breakdowns because what do I do if I’m on the verge of hauling off and punching someone in their goddamn mouth for asking me if I’m okay and then I suddenly have to pretend I’m okay because Emma needs me to hold her up.” She paused and took a breath. “I don’t want to do that to you. I’m not okay, but neither are you, for god sakes you lost as much as all of us in this, and I’m not about to drag you down with me. Talking about it makes it worse, so let’s just skip it all and enjoy life for once! We deserve that! Maybe if we’re happy enough we won’t even need to talk about everything that happened.”  
Noah’s hand hurt from Audrey’s vice-like grip. “That’s not how life works. And you’re not going to drag me down. I’m asking you to talk to me.”  
Audrey sighed. “Maybe I don’t want to talk.”  
“That’s…fine.”  
A sigh. “I’m…just tired. I want to enjoy myself.”  
“I get that.”  
“And…maybe it’s not just Emma. Maybe it’s me. But…I can’t put myself around Emma. She and I are…walking a line. A goddamn stupid line! I can’t fucking understand it! It’s probably…it’s probably because I told her about how I used to be in love with her.”  
Noah laughed just a little. “While I was buried underneath you.”  
Audrey cracked a smile. “I’ve apologized for that like 20 times.”  
“Hey, I need some leverage in this relationship!”  
“You really don’t. I listen to you plenty without the guilt trip.”  
“You’re trying to change the topic.”  
“So?”  
“I’m not going to let you. No more secrets, no more lies, remember? We actually trust each other like we used to.”  
“It’s your fault we went off on a tangent anyway,” Audrey grumbled. “But, Emma acts like…like she’s trying to be my girlfriend, like she’s trying to make up for the fact that she…by playing a part. It’s not fair to me. I got past it. She can’t throw it in my face like this just because it makes her feel better.”  
“I doubt that’s what she’s trying to do.”  
“I know, I know,” Audrey growled, obviously frustrated. “It’s what it feels like in my fucked up brain though.”  
“You could talk to her about it.”  
“God no. No way. Not going to happen.”  
Noah paused, trying to decide if he could get away with asking his next question. She’d probably kill him. Wouldn’t be the worst death though.  
“Are you still in love with Emma?”  
“What?!” Audrey flipped over violently, almost landing on Noah. “No! Haven’t I just spent the past five minutes ranting to you about how I can barely be around her anymore?!”  
“That doesn’t mean you aren’t in love with her.”  
“I’m not. Let’s be honest here. Emma and I are toxic the way we are now. And it’s so easy for us to fall into this same situation, or another one that’s just as toxic. Look at the past two years! We’ve been awful to each other.” Audrey sighed. “The thought of actually being in a relationship with Emma is actually terrifying. I couldn’t handle it. I wouldn’t want to. It’s not something I want anymore. Not with who were are now.”  
“If you guys got better?”  
Audrey raised her eyebrows. “You really think that could happen?”  
“We’re managing.”  
“We’re different. You’re different. And I didn’t spend a year hating your guts and ruining your life. We argued for less than a week.”  
“During which I accused you of murder and you kidnapped me.” He thought about adding ‘rejected me’, but decided against it.  
“It’s still different. You know it is.”  
“Yeah, it is.”  
Another silence. Audrey fell back onto the bed.  
“I’m not into her anymore.”  
“I believe you.”  
“Good.”  
“…What about Brooke?”  
Audrey laughed, smiling broadly. “Oh my god Foster, you really are an idiot!” She pulled herself up off the bed. “How many times have I told you that tonight? Like five?”  
“Probably. I tend to do idiotic things. I lack some sort of filter apparently.”  
“Foot-in-mouth syndrome.” She grinned. “At least I know you’re being honest. It helps that you’re also a horrible liar.” She paused for a moment as she grabbed her clothes off the chair. “It’s also kinda adorable, so that helps your case.”  
Noah grinned. “Yes, being awkwardly honest and doing idiotic things is how I win over all of the ladies in my life.”  
Audrey shrugged. “It’s worked for you so far. Now I actually need to take a shower.”  
She stopped at the door for a second. “Brooke is seriously hot though.”  
Noah nodded. “I know right?”  
“If she were into it I’d totally make out with her.”  
Noah sat up. “Seriously? I would pay to see that.”  
“Foot-in-mouth syndrome Noah.”  
“What? What normal high school guy would not want to see that? I bet Stavo would let you guys make out as long as he got to watch.”  
“No. Nope. Jesus Christ Noah, you get laid once and you go all testosterone on me.”  
“I’m just saying.”  
“It’s a good thing we’re in your room. If I killed you right now I would definitely not get away with it.”  
“Nope. You can’t touch me.”  
Audrey grabbed a pillow from the end of his bed and bashed him over the head with it.  
“Hey!”  
“I didn’t touch you. I can still cause you pain though. Also, you’re such a wimp. I barely hit you.”  
“Fuck you.”  
“Getting sassy are we?  
“...Go take your shower.”  
“Fine fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. Things blew up, then it was Thanksgiving, and now it's finals soon. I'm just making excuses...  
> Audrey sure talks a lot for not wanting to talk. I do the same.


	5. Drama Fatigue

Emma knocked loudly on the basement door. When nothing happened, she knocked again.  
A rustling, and then a grumpy looking Brooke opened the door, a sleepy Stavo laying back on the couch covered in blankets. Her face immediately shifted from annoyance to concern when she saw Emma.  
“What happened?”  
Emma just sighed. “I wanted to talk to Audrey, but she totally flipped out on me. I don’t know what I did! I just – wanted her to hang out with me in my room, talk to me for a while…”  
Brooke sighed and rolled her eyes. “One: you’re really dense sometimes. Two: maybe you should stop talking.” Her face softened from her usual resting bitch face. “Look, I know talking is good and all, but seriously, you take it a little too far. You talk yourself down into a depression and you get all…SAD…and you’re no fun anymore. Talking is supposed to make you better, but I swear you only get more down in the dumps.”  
“It-it’s been hard on me and I kind of expected some support from the people who know exactly what I’m going through!”  
“And we do support you Emma. Lord knows we do everything we can, especially Audrey. It’s just…we don’t deal like you do. You barely deal with it at all!”  
“I’m trying, but people won’t talk to me!”  
“You don’t even realize, do you?”  
“Realize what?”  
“You drag all of us down when you talk! That’s why none of us like talking to you anymore!”  
“Audrey listens! At least, she used to…”  
Brooke laughed drily. “You go on and on about how bad it was, which is fair, totally fair, but you talk about how awful it is now too! You can’t let us move on and have a good time! We want to enjoy our lives Emma! Especially Audrey! No wonder she doesn’t want to talk to you! Do you know how Audrey deals with it? Through drinking, and sarcasm, and punching things! Not by talking! Noah has his murder board, but he finished putting that back together weeks ago Emma! I party, and play matchmaker! I drink and laugh and bitch until everything feels better! For the rest of us, talking doesn’t do much good! And it doesn’t for you either! You never have fun anymore. You start talking and you get more and more depressed and you never smile, even when we try to cheer you up! We can laugh and smile and live our lives again Emma, but you can’t! I want to have fun Emma! We all do, except you! All you want to do is talk yourself down into some dark hole and die there! If you need to talk to someone Emma, it should probably be a professional, because we apparently can’t help you anymore!” Brooke was fuming and huffing angrily by the end of her rant.  
Brooke grabbed Emma gently and guided her towards the door. “Look, I’m sorry Audrey blew up at you. I’m sorry I kinda just did too. But we both want what’s best for you and for us, and so for now maybe you should just stop talking about it. Isn’t that what you wanted the first time around? For things to go back to normal? So try to have a little fun! Loosen up a bit! It’s all done with. Everything’s fine, or at least it will be.”  
Before Emma could say anything, Brooke gently nudged her out the door. “Get some sleep Emma.”  
“Little bit harsh, don’t you think?” Stavo said after the door clicked shut.  
“I just miss seeing her happy, and playing nice clearly isn’t helping anymore. I want to help her and support her, but maybe it’s time for some tough love.” She sighed and lowered herself back down onto the couch.  
“I miss the old Emma. Hell, I miss the old me! I used to be the life of the party! If Brooke Maddox threw a party, everyone would show up! The old Brooke Maddox would get drunk, laugh, and have fun. The old Brooke Maddox would never have spent her Saturday night hanging out being gloomy with a bunch of nerds in a basement.”  
“For what it’s worth, I think you’ve changed for the better.”  
Brooke smiled, leaning into him. “You’re biased.”  
“That I am. I have a feeling old Brooke wouldn’t have given me the time of day.”  
Brooke giggled, placing her head on his shoulder. “She probably wouldn’t have!” She paused. “Maybe it’s time for another Brooke revamping. I can become a Brooke 3.0.” She shook her head. “No, Brooke 2.0 didn’t go as planned.”  
“Maybe you should stop trying to be someone you’re not,” Stavo said. “You’re trying too hard if you ask me. Just do what you want, not what you think you should be doing.”  
Brooke laughed. “What makes you think I know what I want? Everything I’ve wanted has turned out badly for me and everyone around me.”  
Stavo grinned. “Don’t think about that. In fact, don’t think at all. You’re Brooke Maddox and you can do whatever you want, have whatever you want. So what do you want? Don’t think, just say it.”  
“I just want to have fun again.”  
Stavo laughed. “That’s too existential, just pick one tangible thing.”  
“Let’s throw a party!” Brooke exclaimed, suddenly sitting up straight.  
Stavo blinked, but smiled. “Sounds like a good time to me.”  
Brooke nodded. “We haven’t sold Daddy’s house yet, so there’s a giant empty house just sitting there! No adults, no worries! School’s ending in two weeks, so two weeks from now we should throw the biggest party since…before the murders.” She didn’t mention that all of the biggest parties had been Nina’s. She didn’t feel like it.  
Stavo nodded. “I like it. This town’s been a little dead recently.”  
Brooke glared at him.  
He shrugged.  
Brooke sighed. “I wonder if I can get Emma to help plan it. Emma used to be the only thing that could keep a party from going off the rails.”  
Stavo pulled Brooke a little closer. “Leave that to me this time. I’ll take care of everything.”  
Brooke smiled and leaned into him. “I like the sound of that,” she said before shifting to kiss Stavo.  
\-----  
“Shit…”  
Emma flopped back onto the bed and stared blankly up at the ceiling.  
“I’ve messed up with Audrey, and now Brooke. Nice work,” she muttered into thin air.  
She paused like there was someone there to respond.  
Only silence responded, so she continued on herself.  
“Don’t talk, she says. Have fun…How are you supposed to have fun when everyone’s dead?”  
She dragged her fingers through her hair, pulling it back painfully. Images came to the front of her mind faster than she could push them back.  
She grabbed a pillow and buried her head under it.  
The images only intensified.  
“So much for blocking out the world.”  
Silence was not helping.  
“What the hell am I supposed to do? Normal is so far away…Everything’s wrong, and everyone knows it’s my fault.”  
A wave of guilt hit her straight in the gut.  
Talking wasn’t helping either.  
“This is why I need Audrey.”  
She tried to think about Audrey.  
More things she didn’t need to think about.  
“Fuck.”  
\-----  
Audrey came back from her shower to find Noah taking up the entire bed.  
She nudged him, and he groaned.  
She could see he was smiling though. She grinned too, before grabbing a pillow from the end of the bed and whacking him with it.  
“Enough with the assault…” he mumbled. “The pillow’s done nothing to deserve this brutality…”  
“Move your butt!”  
“And if I refuse?”  
Audrey shoved him roughly to one side of the bed. Noah let out a muffled “Hey!”  
“That’s what you get!”  
Audrey threw herself down onto the bed next to him.  
Normally she’d turn and set up a pile of pillows by his feet. They’d sit like that and talk or watch Netflix until they fell asleep.  
She tucked a pillow under her head and burrowed under the covers.  
“It’s way too early for me to be this tired.”  
“Drama fatigue,” Noah said matter-of-factly. “All the drama you just experienced tired you out.”  
“Sounds about right,” she muttered.  
“I take it we’re not continuing our Netflix marathon then?” He wasn’t about to ask his real question and break the spell.  
“Just go to sleep Foster.”  
“Right.” He stretched for the light switch, and fell back into bed as the room went black.  
He paused for only a second before crawling under the covers with Audrey. This was normal after all. She slept over all the time, just like this.  
Audrey rolled over towards Noah, so now her back was to him, pressed against him. His arm went around her, almost reflexively.  
Totally normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so ends the night.
> 
> Merry Christmas or whatever holiday you may celebrate!
> 
> Sorry for all the delays. Everything was hell. School was hell, finals was hell, family wasn't hell, but severely limited writing time, writer's block was and is hell...  
> And I've been working on personal writing, which takes priority over this, I'm sad to say. Some of my characters from what I've been working on are bleeding through, so I apologize for any OOCness. I try my best.


	6. Uncomfortable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is uncomfortable. The next few days are uncomfortable for everyone. Noah's boss is an especially uncomfortable guy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry for the long hiatus with no warning. I have not forgotten this. I've just been working on a huge project...more of the in the end notes.  
> PLEASE CHECK THE END NOTES.  
> And enjoy the chapter that did not go where I thought it would.

Everything was totally normal for a while. Sunday, for high schoolers, is always that day where you buckle down and do all the work you’ve skipped the past two days. So everyone slipped out of Noah’s house relatively early. Emma disappeared before anyone else, didn’t even stay for breakfast.  
They didn't see her at school either.  
They got a little bit worried by that.  
Brooke called her, and then her mom. Turns out she’d stayed home, gone to see a therapist.  
Mixed feelings of guilt and relief flooded over Brooke when she heard that.  
She spent the rest of the day trying to work out plans for her party.  
On Tuesday Noah convinced his new boss to let him play Until Dawn in the store.  
Well, it was more like Audrey convinced him.  
A pretty girl leaning on the counter and batting her eyelashes at him seemed to be all the incentive he needed to hand over a copy of the game.  
When Noah expressed his surprise at her willingness to use her feminine wiles to get things she just shrugged and pointed out that since neither of them had the console, this was the only way to actually play the game. Noah admitted she had a point. He’d been dying to play the game.  
It made him uncomfortable though. Not her doing it, just the way his boss looked at her. But this was his boss, and Audrey could handle herself, so who was he to say anything.  
Noah did his best to keep all their team alive, but it wasn’t going so well at the day. He was convinced Audrey was attempting to sabotage his decision-making. When he asked her, she just laughed and innocently asked him why she would do that.  
It made him smile, so he supposed he was fine with it.  
He could always get a better ending in the game later.  
When they came to continue the game the next day, his boss was everywhere.  
Every time Audrey left the couch, he was there.  
Audrey ended up settling down with her head in his lap for rest of the time so she wouldn’t rip his head off. Noah wasn’t complaining.  
It’s not like his boss was a bad guy. Andrew was a fairly funny guy, and of course, was a huge nerd. He didn’t really look like one though. He looked like a typical rich frat guy, which, given the stories Noah had heard him tell, he actually was.  
Needless to say, he thought he was the shit. It made Audrey laugh whenever he was out of earshot.  
Until later that day, when she forced herself to get up off the couch for the sake of her legs, which had fallen asleep.  
Because it was then that he decided it was a totally good idea to ask her out.  
She laughed in his face this time.  
Noah gave her props for at least having the decency to apologize afterwards.  
He asked her why not.  
She told him straight up that he wasn’t her type.  
He asked her if she already had a boyfriend.  
She narrowed her eyes, and asked him if he knew who she was.  
He looked at her like she was insane.  
That actually made Audrey smile. “Thank God someone here doesn’t.”  
He asked her why he should.  
She just said that she was a bit of a local celebrity.  
Somehow he didn’t put it together.  
He said he was really new to town.  
Audrey nodded, and said not to worry about it.  
She turned, and tried to make her way back to Noah.  
He asked her again if she had a boyfriend.  
Audre rolled her eyes.  
They landed on Noah.  
An unspoken conversation was had.  
His shoulders shrugged the smallest bit.  
She turned back to Andrew. “What do you think?”  
He laughed, smiled like he’d won something, and said that if she spent so much time here, she must be single.  
Audrey raised her eyebrows, and asked him if he was really that stupid.  
He shrugged and said that the only other guy here was Noah, and there was no way a girl like her would want a nerd boy like him.  
Noah took that as his cue to snicker just loud enough for Andrew to hear.  
Andrew stared at him, and then Audrey.  
Audrey assumed that was the end of that, and headed back over to the couch.  
She’d made the wrong assumption.  
“No offense Noah, you’re a good kid and everything, but why the heck are you going out with him Audrey? What’s there to like about a nerd like him?”  
Audrey shrugged. “I like him well enough.”  
Noah gave her a glance of mocking accusation. “’Well enough?’”  
“What can I say, I’m difficult to please,” she laughed.  
“I bet I could show you a better time than him,” Andrew put in.  
Audrey just glared at him. “Are you actually that scummy?”  
“I’m just saying.”  
“Trust me, we have plenty of fun.”  
“I even let you make out with a girl in front of me,” Noah said, grinning to himself.  
“Oh please, she wanted to make out with you, not me.”  
“Yeah…”  
“You’re lucky you could use getting dosed at that party as an excuse for that one.”  
“I’m not the one who used it.”  
Suddenly things were way too real for both of them.  
Andrew looked uncomfortable.  
Audrey threw him a look, and then another sneaky grin took over her face.  
“Though, I bet you wouldn't pull any of that Fantasia 2 shit though.”  
Noah’s face went bright red. “I should definitely not have told you that.”  
He thought for a second. “Wait, I didn’t tell you that!”  
She shrugged, still smiling deviously. “I heard it from Brooke.”  
Noah’s brain made the connections relatively quickly.  
“You girls and your gossip chain.”  
Audrey laughed.  
“Seriously Noah, how did you get this girl in bed with you?”  
“Generally horror movies work.”  
Not technically a lie.  
“There’s gotta be more to the secret than that. If it can get you this caliber of girl, think about the kind of girls I could get.”  
Audrey settled her head on Noah’s shoulder.  
“I don’t think our relationship is something you can just copy. We’ve been through a lot with each other. She’s always been special to me, and a lot of shit’s gone down that makes her even more precious.”  
Audrey smiled to herself.  
Andrew looked like he was thinking about something. Trying to make a connection. He pulled out his phone and googled something.  
“What kind of shit?”  
“That’s really not your business,” Audrey snapped.  
Andrew had a lightbulb moment looking at his phone.  
“You guys were part of the Murderville stuff that happened recently.”  
Audre sighed.  
“You’re right, that’s not exactly something I can manufacture to get chicks.”  
He clicked on another link.  
“It says here your girlfriend died in the killings.”  
“Which one of us are you talking to?” Audrey asked roughly.  
“Noah, but I’m guessing you lost one too?”  
“Yeah, nice deduction genius.”  
Noah sighed. “Me and Zoe were amazing, but short-lived. I was kind of awful to her. Too many feelings, too much death. She was convinced I was cheating on her with Audrey, at least emotionally.” He paused. “She wasn’t exactly wrong. But nothing happened with me and Audrey until after she was…gone.”  
“Well-“  
Noah shot Audrey a look, and she shut her mouth.  
“That one doesn’t count.”  
“Yeah, really didn’t.”  
“Wow, um, way too much truth bomb here guys. I feel like I walked into a really uncomfortable cut scene.”  
Noah cracked a smile.  
They both lost it at right about the same time.  
“We really have no filter sometimes, sorry,” Audrey said eventually. “It happens, when, you know, shit like that goes down.”  
Noah nodded. “Hey, can you do us a huge favor and don’t tell people what we just told you?”  
“Sure dude, sure. I’ll keep it to myself. And let you guys get back to your game.”  
He stopped. “And sorry Audrey, I was being way more of a douche than I thought I was.”  
She laughed. “If only all douchebags were as considerate. You’re forgiven. I did use you to play Until Dawn.”  
“Which we should actually probably get back to,” Noah added. “We kinda left Emily hanging, literally.”  
Audrey’s eyes lit up. “Right! We should totally drop the bitch!”  
“She’s not that bad.”  
“She really is.”  
“…fair.”  
They decided to save Matt instead.  
They laughed about the whole thing on the way home.  
They don’t mention any of the uncomfortable truths.  
Well, except one.  
“We make a pretty good fake couple,” Noah laughed.  
“Andrew was totally believing it by the end of the day. I heard him muttering about how he should have noticed it sooner.”  
“I guess that means we can just act as normal around him and he’ll still believe it.”  
“Yep. No fake breakup necessary here.”  
“Good. Fake breakups are so messy.”  
“I know right?”  
“Totally not worth it.”  
“Definitely.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, I don't know why this scene happened. It just kinda happened. I like it though.
> 
> As for the project I mentioned above, I've been busy because my friends and I started a website where we post our own personal writing, just to get it out there, and I've been writing for that.  
> IF YOU LIKE MY WRITING, PLEASE CHECK IT OUT.  
> www.maivagam.com  
> It's seriously something I'm so proud of.  
> Recommendations: Check out Guilty, if you like Scream, which I'm assuming you do, you'll like it, though it's still in warmups. My friend and I have put so much work into it. If you want what I consider to be my prettiest writing, check out College Girl, which is pretty much a memoir. Also, my friend, who goes by Mask on to site, writes amazing poetry and short stories.  
> I hang out on the site too, and I'll interact with you in the comments if you want.  
> Shameless Plug, sorry.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll attempt to update regularly, but hey, college, that might make it difficult.


End file.
